information technology
it as a career
Information Technology (IT) is sweeping the globe. It is a vehicle for future development, Opportunities, challenges and competition that enables information to be collected and used. Computers and communication technologies are the main components of IT. In the recent years, inspite of the recessionary market trends, IT has become the focus area of the country’s overall development and prosperity aiming to give the country a status of super power in the world.
Computers are basically electronic devices that help us perform most routine tasks faster. These devices are fast becoming a part of our daily lives, making us increasingly dependent upon them. Many of our routine activities can be monitored easily with the help of computers. Computers are also being increasingly used in Research and Development work all over the world. The enormously complex and successful Human Genome Project is just an example. At home, people use Personal Computers for typing letters, playing video games, educating children and maintaining personal accounts. Sounds good, right!
In the last few years, the Indian IT Industry has recorded a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of more than 40 percent, which is almost double the growth rate of IT industries in many of the developed countries. In India, IT spending as a percentage of the GDP is currently about 2.5 percent. In the US, however, the IT spending as a percentage of GDP is more than 6 percent. With Government of India’s resolve to increase IT spending, it is forecast that by 2008, IT spending in India could touch 5 percent of its GDP. The IT manufacturing sector is growing at an average rate of 30 to 35 percent annually over the past decade. And the industry has over 150 major hardware players supported by over 800 ancillary units and small time vendors engaged in sub-assemblies and equipment manufacturing. Software continues to contribute a major portion of the Indian IT industry’s revenues.
Major trends in the domestic IT market during recent years were:
Increasing demand for personal computers and the rising popularity of the Internet were the two major forces driving the growth of the domestic IT industry. The SOHO segment was the major area contributing to PC sales.
As of today India belongs to the fastest growing IT markets and provider of IT enabled services in the world.
IT users in India started showing a marked preference for open platforms that can be implemented at low costs. Platforms such as Intel / Windows NT / Unix emerged as popular choices for integrating the functions and departments of organiz
information technology
it as a career
Information Technology (IT) is sweeping the globe. It is a vehicle for future development, Opportunities, challenges and competition that enables information to be collected and used. Computers and communication technologies are the main components of IT. In the recent years, inspite of the recessionary market trends, IT has become the focus area of the country’s overall development and prosperity aiming to give the country a status of super power in the world.
Computers are basically electronic devices that help us perform most routine tasks faster. These devices are fast becoming a part of our daily lives, making us increasingly dependent upon them. Many of our routine activities can be monitored easily with the help of computers. Computers are also being increasingly used in Research and Development work all over the world. The enormously complex and successful Human Genome Project is just an example. At home, people use Personal Computers for typing letters, playing video games, educating children and maintaining personal accounts. Sounds good, right!
In the last few years, the Indian IT Industry has recorded a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of more than 40 percent, which is almost double the growth rate of IT industries in many of the developed countries. In India, IT spending as a percentage of the GDP is currently about 2.5 percent. In the US, however, the IT spending as a percentage of GDP is more than 6 percent. With Government of India’s resolve to increase IT spending, it is forecast that by 2008, IT spending in India could touch 5 percent of its GDP. The IT manufacturing sector is growing at an average rate of 30 to 35 percent annually over the past decade. And the industry has over 150 major hardware players supported by over 800 ancillary units and small time vendors engaged in sub-assemblies and equipment manufacturing. Software continues to contribute a major portion of the Indian IT industry’s revenues.
Major trends in the domestic IT market during recent years were:
Increasing demand for personal computers and the rising popularity of the Internet were the two major forces driving the growth of the domestic IT industry. The SOHO segment was the major area contributing to PC sales.
As of today India belongs to the fastest growing IT markets and provider of IT enabled services in the world.
IT users in India started showing a marked preference for open platforms that can be implemented at low costs. Platforms such as Intel / Windows NT / Unix emerged as popular choices for integrating the functions and departments of organizations as these also promise extremely high transaction processing rates.
Major players in the software industry like Microsoft have opened their R&D centers in India showing a marked preference for Indian talent.
Open platforms such as Linux, Perl and Apache, gained increasing acceptance amongst large software developers and major IT users. However, this trend was even more marked amongst Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as it brought almost zero cost purchase / support offering functionality that is as good as in priced products of a similar genre.
An increase in the demand of web servers and solutions was seen due to the need to implement e-commerce solutions in brick and mortar companies as well as click and order companies.
Large sectors with low IT penetration, such as textiles and healthcare received a strong thrust from the government as well as the private sector to adopt information technology.
Users emerged as willing to pay a premium for quality value added services. Workgroup solutions are on the agenda of FTUs as well as those who are upgrading their systems.
The Indian software industry has set the stock exchange in fire in recent times. Inspite of shocks, setbacks and the dotcom bust, IT stocks are trendsetters in the market today. Indian IT professionals are much in demand and they are taking the global software industry by storm. The Indians have taken a stronghold on the cyber map of the world, much to the envy of the Chinese. The demand for Indian IT professionals far exceeds the supply.
INDIAN IT SOFTWARE
Like old wine, the Indian IT software and services industry has matured, become more refined and moved up the value chain in terms of solutions offered to customers. The customers, from all parts of the globe, have meanwhile continued to flock to India’s corporates for help with their software needs. Major corporations are continuing to rely on Indian software companies for both legacy and new technology solutions. The wide span of the country’s expertise across myriad technologies and platforms has provided the Indian software engine with awesome power to deal with any kind of IT requirement. The enormous base of skilled manpower — India’s PhDs and computer science graduates & postgraduates — is the envy of virtually every country, and in fact a major draw for global customers.
INDIA'S SILICON VALLEY
While the industry has been growing at above average growth rates, software development activity is not confined to a few cities in India. Software development hotspots, such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi-Noida-Gurgaon belt, Vadodara, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Goa, Chandigarh, Trivandrum are all developing quickly. They boast state-of-the-art software facilities and the presence of a large number of overseas vendors. A large part of India’s success in the software sector is due to the crucial role played by the State of Karnataka in promoting and providing a boost to IT. Karnataka has emerged as the computer capital and center of high-tech industries, especially software. Bangalore has for long been known as India’s answer to Silicon Valley, and this is the city where most large software companies have set up shop and operate out of state-of-the-art facilities. The Government of Karnataka has also been extremely positive about the software and services marketplace and has helped create the relevant telecom and policy infrastructure conducive to the growth of this sector.